Hamzah: My brother works at the Ma'adaniyat Hanasi supermarket in Talbieh (a West Jerusalem neighborhood). I usually bring him something to eat in the afternoon, when I finish school. Last Sunday [12 March 2006], around 2:00 P.M., my cousin, Ahmad Fawaz 'Aweideh , 11, and I went to give my brother his food and then returned home, to Abu Tor. When I was about 300 meters from my house, a white Skoda Octavia stopped next to me, and the driver told me, in Hebrew, to give him my ID card. I replied, in Arabic, that I didn't speak Hebrew, other than a few words, and that I didn't have an ID card. The guy sitting next to the driver got out. He was of medium height, bald, light-skinned, and heavy-set. He was in civilian clothes, as was the driver, who was dark-skinned. When he got out of the car, he put his hand in my pocket and removed my cell phone and my student's card.

At that moment, my cousin yelled for him to give back the phone, because we thought they were robbers. The guy pushed me in the chest and I fell. He chased Ahmad and beat him. He pushed Ahmad and he fell to the ground. Ahmad then got up and ran home. The light-skinned guy came back to me and began to beat me. The driver got out and shouted at me. He grabbed my hands and lifted them up. Then he put me up against the car, with my hands on the roof. He spread my legs, and while he was searching me, other cars pulled up. Lots of people in civilian clothes got out. Two tried to put me into the Skoda, but I resisted because I didn't know they were police officers. I thought they were trying to abduct me. When I refused, they threw me down onto the ground.

Lots of people were standing around. They began to kick me, and one of them grabbed my hands and bound them behind my back with iron cuffs. They picked me up and threw me into the back seat of the Skoda. One of them sat next to me. I don't recall what he looked like. He bent my head over, to the floor of the car, and hit me. The car started to move. After it had gone about 500 meters, when we reached the light at the intersection near the train station (the intersection of Derekh Hebron and David Remez Street ), somebody got into the car and sat down next to me. The two of them beat me and spit in my face and on my head. They also kicked me and hurt me a lot. They continued to beat me until we got to the police station in Talpiot. The car went into the underground parking lot and the guy sitting to my left got out. The other guy pushed me out of the car. I fell and my face hit the ground and started to bleed. They took me to the elevator. From what I recall, the elevator stopped on the third floor. They put me into a big room that had metal cabinets. There was a toilet at the end of the room. In the room, they beat me all over my body and swore at me all the time: "Son of a bitch, fuck you." They spit at me all the time. Then, one of them removed the handcuffs and told me to change clothes. I had trouble removing my clothes because the cuffs had hurt my hands so much. I undressed to the waist, but they wanted more, and ordered me to remove my pants, underpants, and shoes. They beat me again. One of them put a rope or belt, I think, around my neck and began to tighten it. I was choking. Then, one of them put a knife to my body. I felt as if I was about to faint. They left me. At that moment, somebody came into the room and told them, in Hebrew, that I should get dressed and wash my face. They told me to get dressed, which I did. Then they ordered me to wash the blood off my face. I had lots of blue marks from the beatings to my face, and they told me to wash my face well to get rid of the marks. I told them that water would not wash away the marks. After I washed my face, they took me to the corridor and sat me down on a wooden bench. People continuously walked along the corridor. Whoever passed swore or spit at me. One of them came over to me and said, "This is to teach you to salute whenever you see a police officer." After a few hours passed, the two men who had grabbed me at the beginning came and handcuffed me. My hands were swollen, and I asked them not to tighten the cuffs. They didn't tighten them. We went down by elevator and they put me into the white Skoda. We drove a short distance to the police station in Jabal al-Mukaber. They did not beat me on the way. They took me into the station, where a police officer in uniform was sitting. He told me his name was Wasim. He interrogated me as to what had happened. Then, he photographed me and released me. It was around 6:00 P.M. My father waited for me there and took me to Hadassah Hospital , Mount Scopus. , where I was treated and X-rays were taken. I was discharged about 10:00 P.M. Around midnight, I felt pains and began to vomit. My father took me back to the hospital, and they admitted me. I was released in the morning. That same day, it was Monday, I learned that Ahmad had been taken to Hadassah Hospital , Ein Kerem, where he spent the night because of the beating the blond guy had given him at the beginning. Hamzah Fawzi Musa 'Aweideh, 15, is a student, and a resident of East Jerusalem. His testimony was given to Karim Jubran at the witness's home on 15 March 2006.

I live in Sanjer, which is situated on the road between Hebron and Dura. In 2004, I was wounded in the waist by IDF gunfire, and I still suffer from pain in the area where I was hit. On Friday, 3 March 2006, around 3:00 P.M., I went with three friends for a walk in the woods near my house, opposite the Beit Hagai settlement. With me were Sa'ed Yasser Shahin, 15, Safwat Fuad al-Khatib, 15, and Muhammad Maher 'Abido, 17. My brother 'Amer, 15, was with us at first, but he left after a few minutes.

We smoked nargila and enjoyed ourselves. We were about one kilometer from Route 60, and more than two kilometers from the settlement. After a while, Sa'ed started to go home. Suddenly, three soldiers appeared a few meters away from us. One of them was tall and thin and had a dark-brown complexion. He spoke Arabic well. The other two soldiers were tall, blond, and thin. One of them had a moustache. The soldiers called to Sa'ed and told him to come back. He returned and stood next to us. The soldiers aimed their rifles at us and ordered us to get up and not move. When we got up, they told us to turn around, and two of them searched us. The third soldier kept his rifle aimed at us. They told us to give them our ID cards. I gave them my card, and my friends said that they didn't have ID cards. The soldier with the dark-brown complexion took my ID card and put it into his pocket. The two blond soldiers bound my hands behind my back with plastic cuffs. The three soldiers began to beat us. They punched and kicked us and hit us with the butt of their rifles, cursing us as they beat us. I didn't know why they were doing it. They beat us for more than fifteen minutes. Then they ordered us to go with them to the road. One of them grabbed me by the arm, and we walked in front. My friends walked behind me, and two other soldiers walked behind them. While walking, the soldier who was holding me kicked me and twice tripped me with his foot, and I fell to the ground. I also heard my friends shouting as a result of the blows. After about fifteen minutes, we got to the road, and the soldiers sat us down on the shoulder of the road, kicking us and hitting us with their rifle butts. While we were sitting there, a Hammer jeep pulled up. It stopped on the road and the driver remained inside. The two blond soldiers continued to beat and kick us. The dark-brown-complexioned soldier who took my ID card called on the walkie-talkie to check the card. Around 6:30 P.M., I heard people calling to us from the hills. I recognized my brother 'Amer's voice, and that of Tareq, Muhammad's brother. The soldiers also heard the shouts and the dark-brown-complexioned soldier told them to come to where we were. 'Amer and Tareq came over to us. With them were my brother Samer, 18, and Mazen Hamzeh Abu Qweider. The soldiers sat them down next to us and kicked all of us. After about twenty minutes passed, the dark-brown-complexioned soldier told us to go away. We got up, and the soldier gave each of us another few blows before we left. I, too, got up to go, but the dark-brown-complexioned soldier told me to stay. They also kept Muhammad 'Abido, whom I saw pick up a tire from the ground, put it on his neck, and walk toward the hill. The dark-brown-complexioned soldier came over to me, holding my ID card. He asked me if I had been wounded in the past. I was very frightened, and told him that I hadn't been wounded. He replied that I was lying, and slapped me. He picked up my shirt and saw the scar left by the gunshot wound.

He punched me a couple of times on the scar, and I screamed. The cuffs were tight and hurt my hands. While he was beating me, he asked, "Were you wounded?" At the end, I told him I had been wounded in the past, and he kicked the scar hard. I thought I was going to faint from the pain. He did not let me be, and continued to punch and slap me for more than twenty minutes. I was in bad shape, and was screaming and crying. Finally, the soldier cut the handcuffs, gave me back my ID card, and ordered me to leave. I barely walked fifty meters before I fell. My friends, who waited for me, ran over to me and helped me get up. We told Mazen and Safwat to go home and bring a car. In the meantime, my friends helped me walk another 300 meters, before we sat down to rest. A few minutes later, three cars pulled up. I went in one of them to ' Aliyah Hospital , in Hebron . I was admitted and spent the night and almost the entire following day in the hospital. Tamer Yusef Muhammad 'Amru, 18, is an automobile mechanic and a resident of Sanjer, Hebron District. His testimony was given to Musa Abu Hashhash at the witness's place of employment on 12 March 2006.

I live with my family in Sanjer, which is situated on the road between Hebron and Dura. I work at an car repair shop on a street near my house. Last Friday [3 March 2006], around 3:00 P.M., I went with a few friends for a walk in the woods near my house. The woods look out over Route 60 and lie opposite the Beit Hagai settlement. With me were Sa'ed Tamer Yusef 'Amru, 17, Sa'ed Yasser Shahin, 15, and Safwat Fuad al-Khatib, 15. We took some light drinks and nargila and sat under the trees, at least one kilometer from Route 60 and two kilometers from the settlement. After we sat there for about an hour, Sa'ed decided to go. He got up, and when he got about thirty meters from us, three soldiers appeared. One of them was thin, of moderate height, had a dark-brown complexion, and spoke Arabic well. The other two were blond, tall, and thin. One of them had a moustache. The three soldiers raised their rifles and aimed them at us. One of them ran after Sa'ed and brought him back to where we were. They ordered us to get up and turn around with our faces to the stone fence that was there, and not to move. One of them told us to give him our ID cards. Safwat, Sa'ed, and I said that we didn't have ID cards. Tamer gave his card to them. The two soldiers searched us, the third soldier aiming his rifle at us. One of the blond soldiers bound Tamer's hands behind his back. When the soldiers finished the search, they jumped on us and began to beat us. They kicked me and hit me all over my body with their rifle butts. After beating us for about fifteen minutes, they ordered us to walk toward Route 60. One of the soldiers grabbed Tamer's hands and marched him in front of us, and the other two soldiers walked behind us. Tamer fell down twice and got up. While we walked, the two soldiers behind us hit us in the back with their rifle butts. It took us about half an hour to get to the road. When we got there, the soldiers ordered us to sit on the shoulder of the road and put our hands behind our back. They kicked us. At first, I sat down on a boulder, but one of the soldiers hit me with his rifle butt and I fell over. I sat down on thorns. The soldiers stood alongside us. Every once in a while, they came over and kicked us. While we waited, the dark-brown-complexioned soldier used a walkie-talkie to check Tamer's ID card. Around 6:30 P.M., I heard my brother Tareq, 15, and three other guys call out to us. We saw them on the slope leading to the road. The soldiers heard them, and the dark-brown-complexioned soldier told them to come to where we were. Tareq came with Tamer's two brothers - 'Amer, 15, and Samer, 18 - and with Mazen Hamzeh Abu Qweider. The soldiers left us and began to beat and kick them, which lasted for about fifteen minutes. Then the soldiers ordered them to sit down next to us. After about half an hour passed, around 7:30, the soldiers ordered us to leave, except for Tamer. We got up, and before we began to walk away, the soldiers slapped and kicked each of us another time. When it was my turn, the blond soldier slapped me and told me to stay. There was an old tire on the ground next to me, and he told me to pick it up. I picked it up. Then he told me to put it around my neck. At first, I hesitated, and the two blond soldiers began to beat me with their rifle butts and to kick me, and demanded that I put it around my neck. I had no choice, and I did as they said. One of the soldiers told me to put my hands behind my back. I did that. The soldiers then hit me again. After that, they told me to go. One of them said I was forbidden to remove the tire from around my neck, and that he could see me. I began to walk. After I got about 100 meters, I removed the tire and sat down to wait for Tamer. He arrived about ten minutes later, exhausted. I helped him walk until we met my brother and Tamer's two brothers. All of us helped him walk. We sat down to rest after going half a kilometer or so. Mazen and Safwat continued walking and came back with three cars. In one car, Tamer, Tareq, Safwat, and 'Amer went to the hospital. I returned home in another car. Later, Tamer told me that, after I left the soldiers, they beat him severely. He has an old wound to his stomach, and he said that the soldier hit him on the spot of the wound. He also told me that he was kept in the hospital overnight. Muhammad Maher Qassem 'Abido, 17, is a automobile mechanic and a resident of Sanjer, Hebron District

The testimony was given to Musa Abu Hashhash at the witness's place of employment on 6 March 2006.